The Hawks once again lost, this time to the Kings 5-0 in a blowout at the United Center. This follows losses against playoff-caliber teams in the Blues and Stars. To say the least, it has not been a good week for the Hawks.

After Kris Versteeg scored the first goal Monday, he put his arms up, switched his stick from his left to right hand so he could give a fist pump with that hand and commenced celebrating with his teammates at the United Center – his teammates on the Kings that is.

It was easy to see that goal meant a lot to Versteeg, the well-traveled winger who has played with six NHL teams and was a salary-cap casualty after helping the Hawks win Stanley Cups in 2010 and 2015. Though he insisted the celebration wasn’t that over-the-top.

"It wasn't actually that big, I didn't think, but when you don't score 50 (goals), sometimes you get excited when you score goals. So, yeah, threw a fist pump I guess.”

It was his first goal in six games with the Kings and his first goal in six games against the Hawks.

"I mean, when you play your old team, you always want to play hard and it gives you a little added boost, I guess. But at the end of the day, a goal feels good no matter who it's against."

And it was Versteeg’s goal that helped set the tone for the night. Just 18 seconds after his goal, Milan Lucic scored to take the Hawks and the crowd out of it.

All of the action from the United Center.

Line blender

With the Hawks struggling to generate offense over the first two periods, coach Joel Quenneville pulled out the trusted line blender and took Patrick Kane off the second line and put him on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Andrew Ladd. The three led Hawks forwards in even-strength Corsi for the night. Kane said he liked playing with Ladd.

“I liked it a lot. He’s a hard worker, very easy to play with,” Kane said. “We had a couple chances down the stretch there and didn’t really find anything to go in but he’s a great player. He’s an easy player to play with.”

Marian Hossa dropped down to the second line to play with Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin.

Quenneville mixed up his defensive pairings at the start of the game, putting Trevor van Riemsdyk with Duncan Keither, Niklas Hjalmarsson with Brent Seabrook and Erik Gustaffson with Michal Rozsival. Quenneville mixed up those already mixed pairings as the night game progressed.

Corsi look

The Hawks led in overall shots during 5-on-5 play 43-39 and overall 65-46 thanks to six power plays that they had. But adjusted for the score, the numbers get closer –54.7 for the Hawks, 49.3 for the Kings across all situations. In other words, the Kings showed up and scored when it mattered. The Hawks had 10 high-danger scoring chances on the night while the Hawks had eight.